Perception B G Football

[falconfan1]

Love that link to our top swimmers and top students flipper. That is a rising program with a high bar of excellence at BG.

Do we have any of those student-athletes on the football team? Do we have any examples of lives being changed by choosing BG as a HS football student-athlete and then getting a great start in changing the lives of others?

Out of the sport where some students who the pay fees do indeed attend games to watch, watch and follow on the road or drive to Detroit to cheer? Sometimes in the thousands at some games. That sport?

I think we do have those student-athletes in football. I know literally a dozen who just graduated. And another group who soon will.

I want every student and every coach to be a real Falcon in all ways. You rarely read about the ones who do that, but you do remember the very very few who let us down. They are in the paper.

I have no idea if the model can be sustained. I do not want more student fees. But I do know our BG student-athletes are by and large incredible ambassadors for BG. All sports.

Go Falcons!

[Flipper]

We're a great institution...We were a great institution before we were spending so many $$$ on one sport to try to compete with institutions that can outspend us five or six to one. We'll be a great institution when we no longer try to follow a path we don't belong on.

I've yet to hear anyone articulate a reasonable response to the question "why?" Why are we following a path that clearly serves no real purpose in furthering the goals of the University?

[It's the Journey...]

You can't ask those questions Flipper. If you do then you must be a greedy faculty union thug out to ruin the University by focusing on academics OR you aren't a "true" Falcon fan OR you are both.........

Personally, I want quality football, good facilities, and the legitimate chance at a National Championship, not a myth that is dangled like a State Farm commercial. That is not possible in FBS.

[Falcon Fanatic]

Love that link to our top swimmers and top students flipper. That is a rising program with a high bar of excellence at BG.

Do we have any of those student-athletes on the football team? Do we have any examples of lives being changed by choosing BG as a HS football student-athlete and then getting a great start in changing the lives of others?

Out of the sport where some students who the pay fees do indeed attend games to watch, watch and follow on the road or drive to Detroit to cheer? Sometimes in the thousands at some games. That sport?

I think we do have those student-athletes in football. I know literally a dozen who just graduated. And another group who soon will.

I want every student and every coach to be a real Falcon in all ways. You rarely read about the ones who do that, but you do remember the very very few who let us down. They are in the paper.

I have no idea if the model can be sustained. I do not want more student fees. But I do know our BG student-athletes are by and large incredible ambassadors for BG. All sports.

Go Falcons!

[Globetrotter]

I keep hearing the bubble is going to burst, and while I don't disagree, I do wonder what is different now than the last 40 years or so? 93 years? Why could we exist then but not now?

[Tech2000]

Flipper, this has been a subject discussed in other forums that have followed and responded as well. So I will take a better crack at it. I guess the first question would be to answer what really are the university goals? Well rounded students? Opportunities? We have many majors based off of the athletics Dept ie sports management, trainer etc that provides valuable hands on application. Without the sports these opportunities would be gone or at the very least less valuable. Less students.

As for the level and spending. First I am a season ticket holder and falcon club supporter. My oldest graduated a little over a year ago and is a proud season ticket holder. The situation, as you know it takes money etc. I am going out on a limb here by saying most universities rely on the money made off of admission prices from paying sports, ESPN, playing of the BIG teams for a million here 750k there and from rich alumni and falcon club. My guess is that because the attendance isn't what it really should be for those sports, and lack of revenue generating possibilities but does take money to do such as track, softball and even baseball, it falls on the back for whom is generating it. It all costs. The more the success of the programs the more people attend these events the better for generating revenue. Unfortunately that is not the case, and as I previously posted then people should join the falcon club where the money goes to scholarships. I know I was peeved when I felt benefits over time have been cut, and yes even with paying for parking. But I realized that by doing this allows for more of my gift will go to the scholarships. As for students fees assessed. This one can be up for debate, maybe on an opt in or out base, however, many schools have adopted this policy right or wrong but students can go to any event they wish without entrance costs where other schools require purchasing tickets. Opt in or opt out. As for Nov games. I will be to all the games no matter when or weather. Yes maybe some fans feel for football that they have been sold out by going to weekday game of the week on ESPN but is that Bgsu or the Mac? Or both? It does give the school national marketing without paying for it. How much would Bgsu spend on marketing if the school didn't have this opportunity? I don't know how many students it does attract nor do I know how successful a regular marketing plan is I do know I have seen billboards on I75 near bluffton oh, Cleveland, heck I even seen one on the side of a barn in little McComb oh. How successful are they when anyone within an hour knows about BG. Reading some of what our recruits and even coaches have said, they had an idea of what we are about by watching the games.
In order to reduce costs, we drop to FCs, cause I don't seeing BG going d2 and playing Findlay university nor d3 and playing bluffton university, we stand to lose a lot of money that helps support all teams which in turn helps with students obtaining certain degrees.
I know by dropping might save some money but will it really be enough to make up for what we get by being where we are, with the talent we have that has teams willing to pay a total of a few million to have us play them? Well
That's the best I got

[Flipper]

I keep hearing the bubble is going to burst, and while I don't disagree, I do wonder what is different now than the last 40 years or so? 93 years? Why could we exist then but not now?

Google increased athletic spending or some such...you'll find tons of articles.

[Flipper]

How many of our mid week games are on ESPN? How many are on "the deuce" or ESPNU or better yet...ESPN3? Is a three or four hour discussion of the coming P5 playoff....the Heisman race...or whatever other topic the ESPN guys would rather talk about than our game played out in front of an empty stadium the kind of exposure we want?

Tech2000...we lose money playing football. It doesn't support itself. The $$$ you're talking about losing are not funding anything but football. We play money games at places like Purdue and Maryland so we can continue to lose $$$ by playing in the same division as schools like Purdue and Maryland. It has a strange circular quality to it, huh?

Now...we could drop to FCS as It's the journey suggested and we'd save 22 scholarships and we would likely be able to trim some of the bloat from our coaching staff. we wouldn't get paid as much for "money games", but attendance would probably increase because we aren't playing at random times on random nights to suit the bastards in CT who ruined sports for all of us. Let's look at YSU...the home of Bo Pelini. They probably pay too much in salaries and carry too much administrative bloat...they take only $30 per year less from students than we do (according to the Plain dealer any way). Look at Wright State..they play in Division 1 for everything but football..a sport they do not play. They also don't play hockey. They take about $600 per kid. So...football & hockey costs $300 per kid per year......give or take. $600 is a nice chunk of change on it's own...if I went to wright State would I care about any of those sports enough to want to give them $600 of my hard earned dollars? I tend to think not.

So...given the fact that Ohio State is the only division 1 school in the State that takes zero $$$ from it's students to support athletics....I think the D1 model is a sucker bet for anyone but he very top of the food chain.

Adrian College is way smarter....

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/colum ... /76210606/" target="_blank

This has been a fascinating topic to research given the fact that it's 3 AM and I have insomnia...

[Globetrotter]

I keep hearing the bubble is going to burst, and while I don't disagree, I do wonder what is different now than the last 40 years or so? 93 years? Why could we exist then but not now?

Google increased athletic spending or some such...you'll find tons of articles.

Shouldn't a rising tide lift all boats? It seems that despite working really hard inequality in payouts and scheduling are destroying what was a great product. Hmmmm.

[mcfalcons83]

I started this post trying to make the point we have a quality product 2 MAC Championships in 3 years. Affordable ticket prices 1 season ticket equals 1 OSU game. With their fees students can attend all B G games. OSU students cannot. Our exposure today is 1000 times better than 25 years ago when you had to be in our 1 bowl game to be on TV.

[mcfalcons83]

anyone interested go to the OSU ticket page and see what the students have to go through to get a ticket it's laughable

[apollo]

Here's the bottom line....we cannot afford to compete in college athletics with both FBS Football and Hockey...we need to get more money in the department either through donations, student fees, whatever...otherwise I'd like to see them get rid of some sports and fully fund the ones they can afford to keep.
Personally, I'd like to see the MAC leadership show some actual leadership and put some limitations on football...limits to staff salaries, no staying in hotels before home games just little things that completely are unnecessary.
The biggest change I would like to see is an audit of ticket sales for football in the MAC the shows how many tickets are sold to actual fans, how many are corporations like Pepsi whose only money donated to a school is buying football tickets, or how many the schools themselves buy. I think fans would be shocked to see the amount of money wasted just to meet the 15,000 seat ticket allotment.

[Schadenfreude]

Now there's a compelling argument...you're saying things I don't like...therefore, you should leave.

If I went into the other sports forum and started trashing the achievements of our swimmers as meaningless and without merit, do you think that would be a good use of that forum?

I don't think that would be a good use of that forum. It would also be mean spirited, and I suspect you would be annoyed. The point of that forum is to celebrate the achievements of Bowling Green's non-revenue sports and discuss the challenges facing these programs.

The point of this forum is to celebrate the achievements of Bowling Green football and discuss the challenges facing the program. You don't seem interested in that. Instead, you seem more interested in tearing down the program and arguing the whole enterprise -- FBS football -- is stupid.

If I want to read people tear down our football program, there are message boards devoted to Ohio State football or Toledo football where people love to take shots at Falcon football. The reason I come here is to talk with other Falcon football fans who share a love for the program.

You've said yourself you don't love the football program anymore. So why are you here? It seems like every other every off-season discussion about football turns into another round of you bellyaching about how the athletic department is funded.

This funding model isn't new. Student fees have helped fund intercollegiate athletics at Bowling Green for at least 25 years, just as they help fund other student organizations and other student activities (including UAO).

Football is not the demon you think it is here. Bowling Green could drop football tomorrow and BGSU would still be using student fees to subsidize athletics. We know this because Cleveland State, Youngstown State, and Wright State all subsidize their athletic programs with student fees, too.

(As does Cincinnati, for what it's worth.)

Maybe we will one day reach a point in time where FBS or Division I just isn't worth the cost at BGSU. Or maybe we can eventually grow the football program to the point where student fees are less necessary. But neither of these outcomes appear imminent, and the football program is enjoying a great run of success right now. Can't we at least enjoy that?

To the mods: I would suggest future posts about the student fee be moved to the free-for-all forum. I don't think they belong here. BGSU doesn't have a football fee. It has a student fee that funds lots of things, including the entire athletic program. This forum is (or should be) about football.

[Flipper]

I keep hearing the bubble is going to burst, and while I don't disagree, I do wonder what is different now than the last 40 years or so? 93 years? Why could we exist then but not now?

Google increased athletic spending or some such...you'll find tons of articles.

Shouldn't a rising tide lift all boats? It seems that despite working really hard inequality in payouts and scheduling are destroying what was a great product. Hmmmm.

Inequality of payouts? The MAC broadcast deal should be equal to the B1G?

[Flipper]

I started this post trying to make the point we have a quality product 2 MAC Championships in 3 years. Affordable ticket prices 1 season ticket equals 1 OSU game. With their fees students can attend all B G games. OSU students cannot. Our exposure today is 1000 times better than 25 years ago when you had to be in our 1 bowl game to be on TV.

I once went shopping for a new fridge with my wife...we came home with a car. Seriously...a car...life's funny like that